ExpressVPN is a VPN provider currently headquartered in the British Virgin Islands. It was founded in 2009 and later purchased by London-based software developer Kape Technologies in 2021. Since its founding, ExpressVPN has become one of the top names in the VPN space, thanks in no small part to its fast speeds and healthy advertising budget. Among its myriad functions, ExpressVPN boasts split tunneling, servers in over 100 countries and additional features such as a password manager and an ad blocker.
How Does a VPN Work?
A VPN provides a user online privacy and security by masking their IP address and encrypting their internet activity. A VPN will secure an encrypted connection between your device and a remote server, which hides your location and allows you to show that your connection is being directed from nearly anywhere.
There are many uses for a VPN, including keeping your browsing data anonymous. A VPN can also enable you to view country-restricted content regardless of your location. Additionally, some subscription services adjust their prices based on where customers are located. So, setting a VPN to the right location could potentially help you save.
ExpressVPN Core Features
ExpressVPN doesn’t really have standout features, though that’s more the fault of an increasingly homogenized VPN market than any deficiencies on its part. It has all the features you’d expect from a VPN, such as split tunneling, an internet kill switch (called Network Lock) and multifactor authentication. It has a no-logs policy, a large server network and support for most major devices as well.
When I tested the features, I found that they mostly worked. Split tunneling gave me headaches, however. ExpressVPN’s split tunneling has two modes: “Do not allow selected apps to use the VPN” and “Only allow selected apps to use the VPN.”
Using the first setting, I was able to successfully route my connection through ExpressVPN on an app-to-app basis. However, I found that even with the kill switch turned off, connecting to an app routed away from the VPN would often just not work—no connection at all.
The second setting didn’t disconnect me from the internet entirely, but when I checked my IP address using dnsleaktest.com on Firefox (which was allowed to use the VPN) and Chrome (which wasn’t), it turned out to be the same IP address for both browsers.
When I contacted customer support about my issues with split tunneling, I was told that this is a bug the engineering team was already aware of. So hopefully, I’ll be able to delete this section in the near future. As it stands, not having a functional version of such a basic feature like split tunneling is a pretty major red flag for me.
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